弄假成真18

时间：2025-03-03 03:33:52

（单词翻译:单击）

Eighteen
The sun was setting when Poirot came to what was called officially Mill Cottage, and known
locally as the Pink Cottage down by Lawder’s Creek1. He knocked on the door and it was flung
open with such suddenness that he started back. The angry-looking young man in the doorway2
stared at him for a moment without recognizing him. Then he gave a short laugh.
“Hallo,” he said, “it’s the sleuth. Come in, M. Poirot. I’m packing up.”
Poirot accepted the invitation and stepped into the cottage. It was plainly, rather badly
furnished. And Alec Legge’s personal possessions were at the moment taking up a
disproportionate amount of room. Books, papers and articles of stray clothing were strewn all
around, an open suitcase stood on the floor.
“The final breakup of the ménage,” said Alec Legge. “Sally has cleared out. I expect you know
that.”
“I did not know it, no.”
Alec Legge gave a short laugh.
“I’m glad there’s something you don’t know. Yes, she’s had enough of married life. Going to
link up her life with that tame architect.”
“I am sorry to hear it,” said Poirot.
“I don’t see why you should be sorry.”
“I am sorry,” said Poirot, clearing off two books and a shirt and sitting down on the corner of
the sofa, “because I do not think she will be as happy with him as she would be with you.”
“She hasn’t been particularly happy with me this last six months.”
“Six months is not a lifetime,” said Poirot, “it is a very short space out of what might be a long
happy married life.”
“Talking rather like a parson, aren’t you?”
“Possibly. May I say, Mr. Legge, that if your wife has not been happy with you it is probably
more your fault than hers.”
“She certainly thinks so. Everything’s my fault, I suppose.”
“Not everything, but some things.”
“Oh, blame everything on me. I might as well drown myself in the damn’ river and have done
with it.”
Poirot looked at him thoughtfully.
“I am glad to observe,” he remarked, “that you are now more perturbed3 with your own troubles
than with those of the world.”
“The world can go hang,” said Mr. Legge. He added bitterly, “I seem to have made the most
complete fool of myself all along the line.”
“Yes,” said Poirot, “I would say that you have been more unfortunate than reprehensible4 in your
conduct.”
Alec Legge stared at him.
“Who hired you to sleuth me?” he demanded. “Was it Sally?”
“Why should you think that?”
“Well, nothing’s happened officially. So I concluded that you must have come down after me on
a private job.”
“You are in error,” replied Poirot. “I have not at any time been sleuthing you. When I came
down here I had no idea that you existed.”
“Then how do you know whether I’ve been unfortunate or made a fool of myself or what?”
“From the result of observation and reflection,” said Poirot. “Shall I make a little guess and will
you tell me if I am right?”
“You can make as many little guesses as you like,” said Alec Legge. “But don’t expect me to
play.”
“I think,” said Poirot, “that some years ago you had an interest and sympathy for a certain
political party. Like many other young men of a scientific bent5. In your profession such
sympathies and tendencies are naturally regarded with suspicion. I do not think you were ever
seriously compromised, but I do think that pressure was brought upon you to consolidate6 your
position in a way you did not want to consolidate it. You tried to withdraw and you were faced
with a threat. You were given a rendezvous7 with someone. I doubt if I shall ever know that young
man’s name. He will be for me always the young man in a turtle shirt.”
Alec Legge gave a sudden explosion of laughter.
“I suppose that shirt was a bit of a joke. I wasn’t seeing things very funny at the time.”
Hercule Poirot continued.
“What with worry over the fate of the world, and the worry over your own predicament, you
became, if I may say so, a man almost impossible for any woman to live with happily. You did not
confide8 in your wife. That was unfortunate for you, as I should say that your wife was a woman of
loyalty9, and that if she had realized how unhappy and desperate you were, she would have been
wholeheartedly on your side. Instead of that she merely began to compare you, unfavourably, with
a former friend of hers, Michael Weyman.”
He rose.
“I should advise you, Mr. Legge, to complete your packing as soon as possible, to follow your
wife to London, to ask her to forgive you and to tell her all that you have been through.”
“So that’s what you advise,” said Alec Legge. “And what the hell business is it of yours?”
“None,” said Hercule Poirot. He withdrew towards the door. “But I am always right.”
There was a moment’s silence. Then Alec Legge burst into a wild peal10 of laughter.
“Do you know,” he said, “I think I’ll take your advice. Divorce is damned expensive. Anyway,
if you’ve got hold of the woman you want, and are then not able to keep her, it’s a bit humiliating,
don’t you think? I shall go up to her flat in Chelsea, and if I find Michael there I shall take hold of
him by that hand-knitted pansy tie he wears and throttle11 the life out of him. I’d enjoy that. Yes, I’d
enjoy it a good deal.”
His face suddenly lit up with a most attractive smile.
“Sorry for my filthy12 temper,” he said, “and thanks a lot.”
He clapped Poirot on the shoulder. With the force of the blow Poirot staggered and all but fell.
Mr. Legge’s friendship was certainly more painful than his animosity.
“And now,” said Poirot, leaving Mill Cottage on painful feet and looking up at the darkening
sky, “where do I go?”

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1 creek 3orzL     
n.小溪，小河，小湾
参考例句：
  • He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
  • People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。
2 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径
参考例句：
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
3 perturbed 7lnzsL     
adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • I am deeply perturbed by the alarming way the situation developing. 我对形势令人忧虑的发展深感不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Mother was much perturbed by my illness. 母亲为我的病甚感烦恼不安。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
4 reprehensible 7VpxT     
adj.该受责备的
参考例句：
  • Lying is not seen as being morally reprehensible in any strong way.人们并不把撒谎当作一件应该大加谴责的事儿。
  • It was reprehensible of him to be so disloyal.他如此不忠，应受谴责。
5 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的
参考例句：
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
6 consolidate XYkyV     
v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并
参考例句：
  • The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
  • The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。
7 rendezvous XBfzj     
n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇
参考例句：
  • She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
  • I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。
8 confide WYbyd     
v.向某人吐露秘密
参考例句：
  • I would never readily confide in anybody.我从不轻易向人吐露秘密。
  • He is going to confide the secrets of his heart to us.他将向我们吐露他心里的秘密。
9 loyalty gA9xu     
n.忠诚，忠心
参考例句：
  • She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
  • His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。
10 peal Hm0zVO     
n.钟声；v.鸣响
参考例句：
  • The bells of the cathedral rang out their loud peal.大教堂响起了响亮的钟声。
  • A sudden peal of thunder leaves no time to cover the ears.迅雷不及掩耳。
11 throttle aIKzW     
n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压
参考例句：
  • These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
  • High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。
12 filthy ZgOzj     
adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的
参考例句：
  • The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
  • You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

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